Conceal
by The All Real Numbers Symbol
Summary: Jarvis wonders why Clu always locks Rinzler away for the night. Oneshot.
xXx

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 **Conceal**

 **Summary** : Jarvis wonders why Clu always locks Rinzler away for the night. Oneshot.

 **Rating** : K plus

 **Genre** : General

 **Disclaimer** : If I had any control over this stuff we'd have Tron 3 by now…or at least a copy of the script.

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Just outside the door, Jarvis hesitated. No one was allowed to enter, and Administrator Clu was the only one who knew the passcode to get in.

A new cycle was dawning on the Grid, and on one of the upper floors of the administrative tower, Jarvis stood outside the door. The round tray with the pitcher full of glowing blue energy and the empty glass felt heavy in his hands. It was the only time Jarvis ever saw energy this pure, and Administrator Clu only ever gave it to one program.

But the Administrator had not appeared yet this morning, which was unlike him. Usually by now he would have been up and reviewed all of the reports and given a string of orders before taking the tray from Jarvis and entering that sealed room.

The program shifted to one foot, considering his options. He could try his override passcode. It might get him in. Rinzler unnerved him, but they had sort of almost worked together for hundreds of cycles now, and the security program might be wanting for energy. (It was just so hard to tell, Jarvis reflected, when the only communication that ever came from him was the low growling and the security channel communiqués. He himself had only ever heard the program utter one word since the day Clu had introduced them to each other.)

And he wanted to know what was in there, what secrets Rinzler had, why Clu always locked the security program away at the end of the cycle…

"Greetings, Program." Clu said behind him, and Jarvis jumped, sloshing the energy around in the pitcher.

"Good morning Your Excellence." Jarvis replied.

"Make sure the reports from Bismuth are on my desk." Clu ordered as he took the tray from Jarvis. "You're dismissed."

"Yes, Your Excellence." Jarvis said, keeping the note of reluctance out of his voice as he turned away. Just once he wanted to peek over the Administrator's shoulder as he opened the door… but he knew he never would. Instead he turned and walked back out, to the elevator that would take him back to where he had left the reports that Clu had asked for.

Clu balanced the tray on one hand and typed in a string of numbers at the glowing keypad outside the door. The door slid open silently to allow him to enter, and slid shut when he was through the door.

There was one window in the south wall, but the view of the capitol was cut off by the wall of the north wing. The glass was heavily tinted to prevent any prying eyes from finding a way to peek in.

The room that Jarvis so badly wanted to see was small, and mostly empty. A plain table jutted out from the wall across from the door. A tiny niche by the window was meant for a seating area.

On a sleeping space that jutted out from the east wall, Rinzler was in sleep mode, his lines glowing and dimming. He was helmetless, the only time he was allowed to be so, and even Jarvis would have recognized the face under the helmet if he had ever had an opportunity to see it.

Clu set the tray on the table and reached over to rest his hand on Rinzler's shoulder, bringing the other program out of sleep mode. "Greetings program." He said with a wide smile as he turned back to the pitcher and glass. Rinzler came awake immediately, as a security program should. Clu poured the first glass of energy and handed it to the other program. "I'll be back in a little while. I have some plans for today, and I'm going to need you for them."

Clu left, locked the door behind him, and went back to his desk, where he consumed his own energy for the morning while reading reports and ignoring Jarvis' hovering in the background. When he came back to the upper floor later he was still alone, and he opened the door just as Rinzler was setting the glass beside the now empty pitcher.

The administrator smiled widely. A pocket of resistance in Bismuth had been handled, there was a new round of games set up for that evening's entertainment, and a page had just been sent.

It was shaping up to be a great morning.

"Let's go Rinzler." He said, touching the back of the program's neck which caused Rinzler's helmet to re-form over his face. Tron – or the last vestiges of him – was gone for another day and Rinzler's low rumbling was the only sound in the space. "I've got big plans for today."

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 **[A/N:]** So let's add this random story to things that were not on my to-do list tonight. Oh well. I was thinking today that Tronzler can't sleep in that helmet, it looks like that would be really uncomfortable. Unfortunately if you figure that he's able to take it off to sleep, that means that Clu's going to have to take extra steps so that no one sees him without the helmet, so, yeah.

Review are appreciated, so please let me know what you thought.


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